The forum promoted by CSS on technology transfer policies on the occasion of the presentation of the book "Transferring technologies. The case of space technology transfer in Europe" by Fabio Biscotti and Marco Saverio Ristuccia (Marsilio, 2007) was held in Milan in the Board Room of the Chamber of Commerce of Milan on 28 March 2007.
The forum was attended by Chamber of Commerce board member Gianna Martinengo, who introduced and coordinated addresses, Sergio Ristuccia, president of CSS, Piero Bassetti, President of Fondazione Giannino Bassetti, Marco Pascucci, Italian delegate of FP7, Space Area, Paolo Zanenga, President of PDMA SE (Product Development and Management Association - Southern Europe area).
The practical and concrete nature of the text was stressed by forum speakers, "as is the wont of the CSS" Ristuccia stated. "The aim has always been to suggest and propose, and not to be a mere observatory. In this case the book is a veritable working document".
Proposals are put forward after having reconstructed the space technology transfer chain - which offers a very rich supply of technologies and innovation opportunities - and the various problems and difficult phases of the transfer, first and foremost the preparation of technology for sectors other than space and subsequent evaluations of legal aspects or financial feasibility.
Piero Bassetti said that the strength of the book lay in its political indications. He recalled that unlike other types of innovation, space research is a form of "collective creativity", and much closer to us than we tend to think. It is necessary to bear in mind this cultural awareness in order to be able to progress and drive forward the "innovation network". In this sense he spoke about the responsibility of innovation, which "must always guide political activity, even when this entails, inevitably, a crisis of existing balances".
Pascucci stressed that "a long way still had to be travelled in this direction." The activity of NASA and that of the ESA is not comparable at this moment in time".
Paolo Zanenga spoke about the change in paradigms of the new manager and the new enterprise, which increasingly operate in an open system and within a "cluster of knowledge". The president of the biggest network of people working on the process of product innovation noted the change in paradigms of the new manager and the new enterprise, which increasingly operate in an open system and within a "cluster of knowledge". Furthermore, "research conducted indicates that radical innovators make bigger profits".
